PIMCO has hired two hedge fund traders as it continues to beef up its nascent equities business.

Rebecca Babin has joined the Newport Beach, Calif.-based money manager, best known for its bond funds, as an equity trader, while Mark Cooper has been named an equity analyst. Both serve as senior vice presidents and work out of the New York office.

Babin joined PIMCO from Brigade Capital Management, where she was a trader for the high-yield and capital structure arbitrage hedge fund, focusing on stocks, options, convertibles and macro hedging products. Cooper most recently was a partner at Omega Advisors, working as a portfolio manager and analyst. He also formerly worked at Pequot Capital Management.

From the current issue of

The testimony of former FBI Director James Comey came and went with more hype than harm to Donald Trump’s administration. The more important issue is whether Congress spent too much political capital to get comprehensive tax reform done by the end of 2017. The likelihood of significant policy changes is fleeting for the year. Some economists are even losing hope that tax reform will be completed by the midterm elections of 2018.